New story

Or at least, it is a new story to the Clarion Content, we covered last year's Indiana Hoosiers college basketball season, trainwreck that it was, fairly closely. However, we did not realize just how badly coach Kelvin Sampson had let things get off the rails. (Pun intended.) Yesterday in an exclusive interview with Indianapolis Star former IU guard and last year's leading scorer Eric Gordon said that there was a major problem with drug use on the team, and that Coach Sampson knew about it. According to Gordon, Sampson, who has since, ironically, landed an assistant coaching job in the NBA on Scott "Busted for nose candy in college" Skiles staff, was too focused on winning to solve the problem. Oh really? We thought he was too focused on cheating to even notice.

Way to go Coach, we thought you had already brought as much dishonor to the Indiana program as you possible could, but there are new depths. The Clarion Content would like to add a special heartfelt, "Fuck you!!!" to all the trustees, alumni and faculty members who thought firing Coach Knight was a good idea. Yeah, yelling at the players sure was mean, good thing you ran Bobby out of there. Much better to have a coach that cheats and ignores the players' drug problems so long as the team is winning. Thank goodness the university cleaned house by firing athletic director Rick Greenspan.

Coach Sampson, there are reservations waiting in hell for you pal.

One more

We were noting for you earlier in the week here the dramatic decline in sports' corporate sponsorships and advertising dollars. We saw one more the other day. General Motors is canceling its contract to be the Yankees automotive sponsor next year. The Yankees, however, are not the Pirates and New York isn't Pittsburgh. They have replaced G.M. already, according to Yankees chief operating officer Lonn Trost in ESPN.com, "Toyota and Audi will take over as the club's auto sponsors." Interesting that they found two non-American car companies to work with.

Sports sponsorship

Some of the most visible signs of the economic downturn are occurring in sports sponsorships. Advertising is on the decline everywhere, as a non-essential cost that can be trimmed. If you know the Clarion Content's opinions about advertising, you will know we are not crushed.

It is the plethora of places we see it happening that keeps smacking us in the face. A few weeks back it was General Motors saying they couldn't keep sponsoring Tiger's bag. We heard from them again earlier this week when they cut ties with the Pittsburgh Pirates. (It took a cratering economy for them to make that move?) We have read of races losing sponsors from biking to NASCAR. A television industry ad sales exec told us this weekend, off the record, Washington better save the car companies, this is killing us. You know it is bad when they are having trouble selling the commercial time for the Super Bowl.

Ahhh, comeuppance.

Fortunately, there some sports where the money hardly matters, nature provides the playing field and the beat goes on.

NBA notes

A couple of quick NBA notes from the early season for your reading pleasure. The Clarion Content's staff, exclusively Knicks fans until our next hire, roots against the Nets, like all real Knicks fans. However, you have to respect Nets General Manager Rod Thorn and the work he has done. The Jason Kidd trade looks better and better ever game, as in "Here Dallas, take this always slow, and getting slower, aging veteran who has never won a thing off of our hands. Ok, I guess we can take that young, quick, scoring point guard Devin Harris in return. And two first round picks? If we must." (Thorn hangs up phone and cackles audibly.)

Is it too soon to call Greg Oden a bust? Despite what the Disney honchos think it is surely too soon for him to be doing commercials. For now, there is no doubt that Trail Blazers back-up center, eight year vet, the big polish-American kid from Minnesota, Joel Przybilla is totally outplaying him. What is Oden's ceiling as a player?

Can the Knicks please just cut Stephon Marbury already? They couldn't have handled this any worse. Their methodology is approaching their course in dealing with Anucha Browne Sanders in the levels of inaneness. Jimmy Dolan, you have got the money. You are going to have to pay Starbury, anyway. No come off of it, dumbass.

Finally, one note of warning from ESPN's Daily Dime to all the fans drinking the Lakers Kool-Aid. Phil Jackson, Kobe and the rest of the Lake Show have lost seven of their last eight games decided by a single point, including last night to the 12th place in the Eastern Conference, 7 up and 10 down, Indiana Pacers.

NFL tidbits, goodies and predictions

At the three quarter pole of the NFL regular season and the beginning of many folks fantasy playoffs the Clarion Content has a few NFL tidbits, goodies and predictions for you.

How cooked is Romeo Crennel's goose in Cleveland? Well it was surely done before last week's pathetic six point showing against the banged up Colts defense. But how about now that both of the Browns top two quarterbacks are out for the year? Brady Quinn had finger surgery and Derek Anderson tore up his knee, that means the Browns are heading into this week's match-up with 11 and 1 Tennessee starting Ken Dorsey from the U. Despite the fact that the last good quarterback to come out of the U, Bernie Kosar, enjoyed great success in Cleveland, Ken Dorsey has to make Browns fans a little anxious. The more interesting question is who will the Browns pull off the street as the back-up QB for the game. Doug Flutie? Jared Lorenzen? Tim Couch?

While hope has faded to black in Cleveland, this note from ESPN's NFL Power Rankings correspondent Kevin Seifert, may offer a glimmer to the winless Lions, "An 0-12 Lions team beat the Vikings at home in 2001. Guess who this week's opponent is?"

And how did we originally miss this? Raiders interim coach, Tom Cable, of University of Idaho fame, ran an option pitch play to 275 lb kicker Sebastian Janikowski as a running back on a fake field goal? So for the record, that's one running play for Janikowski this season and one missed 76 yard field goal attempt. And you wonder why the Clarion Content divorced the Raiders and Al Davis in approximately 1990.

Now for a few quick playoff predictions. The Dallas Cowboys will steal the last NFC Wild Card spot away from the amazingly resurgent Atlanta Falcons and rookie of the year to be Matt Ryan. (The Clarion Content completely underestimated Ryan. We never thought he would do what he has done.) Brett Farve and the New York Jets will not win the AFC East. Less heralded rookie QB, Joe Flacco, will lead the Baltimore Ravens to the playoffs. The eventual AFC West winner will be no more than 8-8, sorry Oakland you can't even get to 8 and 8. Check back in the coming weeks to see just how wrong we were.

The BCS, or why not to watch college football

bonus points if you can identify this helmet

Here at the Clarion Content we don't understand why they had Oklahoma play Oklahoma State on Saturday. Couldn't they just have gotten a few computers and a bunch of experts together and voted on who was better? After all according to the BCS (read: BS) isn't that the better way to decide which team is superior?

We have no love loss for Texas. Over the years we have come around to a point of view which would argue that college football is a useless joke. There is no reason to watch save for two things, rooting for a school one has personal loyalty to, and scouting who is going to be good in the NFL. (A league where the champion is decided on the field.)

That said, we are pulling for Missouri in the Big 12 championship game (strongly) and Florida in the SEC championship game (tepidly.) We are hoping for the maximum amount of chaos to expose the system for the fraud it is. Missouri and Florida victories would leave 8 teams with a legitimate claim to a spot in the national championship game.

in no particular order
1 loss Florida
1 loss USC
1 loss Texas Tech
1 loss Texas
1 loss Alabama
1 loss Penn State
undefeated Utah
undefeated Boise State

Excellent. In that scenario the voters and 'puters definitely take Florida and then it is the proverbial coin toss between Texas and USC. Incidentally, a coin toss seems an equally, or perhaps even more fair method to adjudicate things than the status quo. Rocheambeau anyone?

One other college football note, how's this for the difference between the Texas Tech Red Raiders two best players. Superb wideout Michael Crabtree sprained his ankle in the first quarter and returned to the sidelines of Tech's game against Baylor in his street clothes to watch. Heisman Trophy candidate, quarterback Graham Harrell, broke his left hand in nine places in the second quarter, at halftime he had the training staff "tape it up" and he returned to lead the second half comeback victory over the Baylor Bears. The next day Harrell had four hours of surgery and nine plates inserted in his hand. Crabtree took a couple of Tylenol (allegedly.)

Oregon State and the Rose Bowl

Oregon State University is playing the University of Oregon today for the right to compete in this year's Rose Bowl against the Big Ten champion, Penn State. It is a game that has traditionally been called "The Civil War." Oregon State has played in the Rose Bowl twice since Pearl Harbor, once in 1965 and once in 1942. The 1942 game was the only Rose Bowl ever held outside of California. It was played in Durham, NC. Despite the obvious tie-in there to the Clarion Content, it was not that portion of the story that caught our attention.

The 1942 Rose Bowl was played in Durham in part because of war-related concerns about holding the game in California. The Japanese government had declared war on the United States only months earlier. An article in the Los Angeles Times we spotted earlier this month told a tragically fascinating story about that 1942 Oregon State Rose Bowl team. Jack Yoshihara, a Japanese American was a sophomore reserve on Oregon State's football team, as well as a wrestler. According the story the LA Times recounts, one drizzly day during practice for the 1942 Rose Bowl, two FBI men in overcoats showed up at the Beavers practice field. They spoke with the coach and escorted Jack Yoshihara from the field.

Oregon State went on to upset Duke in the '42 Rose Bowl. Many of the players on both teams went on to serve in the war, Jack Yoshihara was denied the right to enlist in the Army and was sent to the Minidoka internment camp in Idaho. Oregon State awarded Yoshihara a Rose Bowl ring in 1985 and an honary degree last June. Yoshihara who lives in Edmonds, Washington after retiring from the refrigeration business he ran in Portland, Oregon is still a loyal Beavers supporter and fan. For years, he attended all their home games. According to the LA Times whatever the outcome of "The Civil War" this year, health concerns will prevent Yoshihara from attending the Rose Bowl. In 1942 Japanese-Americans were not permitted to travel more 35 miles from home, so he listed to that game on the radio, while German-American teammates were allowed to participate. He never played organized football again.

Amazingly, Jack Yoshihara's is not the only strange but true story from the 1942 Rose Bowl. The LA Times reports that, "During the Battle of the Bulge, Stan Czech, a tackle for that Beavers team, was sharing food and coffee with another soldier in a foxhole. After a few minutes of conversation, he realized it was Wallace Wade, the Duke coach. Charlie Haynes, Duke's backup quarterback, and Frank Parker, an Oregon State tackle, became platoon leaders in different companies. During the Arno Valley campaign in Italy, Parker came across a severely wounded Haynes and carried him to a farmhouse, where medics saved his life."

A reminder to all of us basking in the glow of Thanksgiving to be truly grateful. It is only a game, but the Clarion Content will be rooting for the Beavers from Oregon State to win and hopefully shine an even brighter light on Jack Yoshihara's story.

See ya P.J.

P.J. Carlesimo, coach of the NBA's Oklahoma City Franchise Thieves got canned today after a 1 win and 12 loss start to open the season. Sweet. The Clarion Content has disliked P.J. since his days at Seton Hall when some of our senior editorial staff was living in New Jersey. Carlesimo, who was a successful game coach at Seton Hall, was known far and wide as a sanctimonious jerk, who was despised by his players. As a fan of the young, dynamic Kevin Durant, the Clarion Content was dismayed when the Sonics brought Carlesimo on board. The NBA is tough enough; physical hard knocks, 82 games, money managing, road trips, et cetera, to have Durant start his career in the kind of hostile, negative atmosphere P.J. Carlesimo embodies, was the coup de grâce.

P.J. Carlesimo's style is braggadiccio and bombast. He was known for screaming at his players long before Latrell Sprewell decided to throttle him. This is the second time that Carlesimo, a Scranton, P.A. native, has been fired early in the season in his NBA career. He is not the guy you want around when things are going poorly, his attitude only makes it worse. His career record in the NBA now stands at 204-296 a .408 winning percentage.

The University of Buffalo Bulls

The Buffalo Bulls have not exactly been a football powerhouse in recent years. They came to the Clarion Content's attention recently because they are leading the Mid-American Conference's Eastern Division. The Bulls rise to prominence deserves special mention because they have been playing Division I-A football for less than ten years. As newcomers to the top division they have had to face scheduling difficulties and go on the road to play doormat to the powerhouses. Yet that hasn't deterred them, and this year the sweet smell of success is in the air. The Clarion Content originally wrote about U Buff football in effort to recognize their tremendous young head coach, Turner Gill, and to promote Coach Gill for the nearby and now open Syracuse University football coaching job.

This week the University of Buffalo Bulls have come to our attention for another, better reason. ESPN's show Outside the Lines is doing a program on the 1958 football team. This squad was the only team in 102 years of the Bulls program to be invited to a bowl game, the 13th annual Tangerine Bowl. The Bulls refused the bid, and therein as Paul Harvey would say lies the rest of the story. The Bulls of 1958 were a racial integrated squad in a still segregated America. The Tangerine Bowl was to be played in Orlando, Florida. The Orlando High School Athletic Association was at the time the Tangerine Bowl stadium's leaseholder. It strictly prohibited blacks and whites from playing together. The Bulls were told they would be allowed to participate only if their athletes of color, starting halfback Willie Evans and reserve defensive end Mike Wilson, did not play. Asked by their coach to vote on whether or not to participate the college kids who made up the 1958 University of Buffalo Bulls football team unanimously rejected the bowl bid.

Here is hoping they get their first chance since this year!!! From the Bull City we support the Bulls, read the full ESPN story here.

Michigan Mess

This just in, Rich Rodriguez is a jerk! All season the Clarion Content has been resisting the urge to mock Michigan football as they struggle to the worst year in their program's history. But no more, as Coach Rich Rodriguez gave loyal Michigan fans the metaphorical bird today for having the temerity to complain up the historical lows their program has sunk to under his leadership. Coach Rodriguez said that Michigan fans needed to, "Get a life," and worry about bigger things like the economy. Clarion Content to Coach Rodriguez, "A, hey there coach, news flash, people watch sports to take their minds off distressing, uncontrollable news, like the economy..."

What Michigan fans? You're surprised that a guy who did West Virgina like that, his home state school and his alma mater, would treat you like crap? Duh! Enjoy 3-8 and staying home for bowl season. At least the basketball coach you swiped from West Virginia might be able to get the crummy Wolverines to .500, but here at the Clarion Content we hope not.